Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, recently celebrated their 14th royal wedding anniversary.
It’s no secret the Prince of Wales and his longterm love had a rocky road to romance, with the two embarking on an adulterous affair while the future King of England was still married to Diana, Princess of Wales, the mother of his two sons Prince William and Prince Harry, and Camilla Shand was wed to Brigadier Andrew Parker-Bowles.
WATCH to see the Princess Diana’s take on Prince Charles and Camilla’s affair, filmed one year before her death:
But while Charles and Camilla’s shocking relationship was the talk of British society for many years (remember Camillagate), it seems their unlikely love story was already written if anyone had been inclined to read the royal family’s history, that is.
Half a century before Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne, a beautiful young woman caught the attention of Edward, then Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, from the first time they met.
Her name was Alice Keppel, the great-grandmother of Camilla Parker-Bowles.
In 1898, the 56-year-old heir to the throne struck up a love affair with Alice – who was married to the Honourable George Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle, a British army soldier – despite a 26 year age difference.
Alice went on to become King Edward VII’s most famous and favourite mistress, with Edward’s wife Alexandra of Denmark even said to approve of the relationship.
Camilla’s great-grandmother remained one the King’s most trusted companions until his death in 1910, and even secured her brother Archie a job at Buckingham Palace.
More than a century later, Camilla’s stepson Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, would give that name to their firstborn son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor.
After King Edward VII’s death, Alice Keppel and her husband George left Britain to travel across Asia before splitting her time between villas in Italy and France.
In 1936, when King Edward VII’s grandson Edward VIII abdicated the British throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson, Alice reportedly said: “Things were done much better in my day.”
The Prince of Wales married Lady Diana Spencer in the royal wedding of the century at St Paul’s Cathedral in London in July, 1981.
But after their divorce in 1992 and Diana’s death five years later, Charles and Camilla were given a second chance at love.
In February 2005, Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth’s son had proposed to his longterm love with a rig made from gems that once belonged to the Queen mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.
With the Queen and Prince Philip’s blessing, Prince Charles and Camilla, who would become the Duchess of Cornwall, married in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall in April, 2005.
Charles and Diana’s eldest son, Prince William, went on to marry his college sweetheart Kate Middleton in their own fairytale royal wedding at Westminster Abbey in London in April, 2011.
The Wales’ second son, Prince Harry, married American-born actress Meghan Markle at St George’s Chapel in Windsor in May, 2018.
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